Code and analyze your data with AI Assist
Andreas W. Müller (andreas@muellermixedmethods.com)

What is AI Assist
AI Assist is an addon to MAXQDA24. It integrates a large language model into thesoftware. In general, large language models generate text based on training dataand a prompt. AI Assist uses a more deterministic model which leads to more stable
results and less hallucination.

Function Overview

Overall, AI Assist provides for types of different functions:•

Creating summaries of documents, coded segments and more•

Suggesting names for codes or subcodes and providing explanations forunfamiliar terms•

A chat-based interface to analyze codes or documents by the use of prompts•

AI based coding of single documents

AI Coding
AI Coding is an AI Assist feature designed to facilitate your coding process while
giving you complete control over the analytical work. With AI Coding, you can use
AI Assist to analyze a single document and receive text segment coding suggestions
based on your specific coding criteria. This automated coding approach ensures AI
adheres to your analytical perspective.

AI Coding in MAXQDA offers more than just a way to automate a document's initialcoding—it can also serve as a powerful tool for enhancing and refining your manual
coding process.
Whether coding a document from scratch or reviewing a fully coded project, AI
Assist can act as a second set of eyes, helping you cross-check your work, identify
any segments you might have missed, and even highlight differences ininterpretation.
A brief overview of the AI Coding workflow
First, users choose the document and the code they want to apply. Then, they
provide a clear code definition, including coding inclusion and, if appropriate,exclusion criteria. Then, AI Assist analyzes the document, applies the code torelevant text segments, and explains the coding rationale. Finally, users can review
and finalize the AI-suggested segments.
AI Coding works for one document and one code at a time, meaning that every AI
Assist coding request can code a single document with a single code. This alsomeans you can only run one AI Coding process at any given moment.

How to code with AI Assist
Initial setup and preparation
To get started with AI Coding, you will need to have already created at least one
code in the "Code System" window.
If you are working with a PDF document with headers and footers, we suggest
removing them from the analysis before applying AI Coding. This will help ensure
more accurate coding suggestions. You can find guidance on how to exclude them inour "Exclude areas from PDF documents" section at the bottom of the manual'schapter on PDFs.
Start AI Coding
Once you have a code, you can initiate the process by navigating to:•The "Document Browser" toolbar
1. Open a document (text or PDF) and ensure you are viewing it in the"Document Browser" window.
2. Click the AI Assist iconin the toolbar.

3. Select AI Coding from the dropdown menu for the AI Coding dialog toappear.
4. Drag and drop a code from the "Code System" into the respective fieldin the AI Coding dialog.

AI Assist: AI Coding option in the 'Document Browser'•

The code's context menu:
1. Right-click on the code in the "Code System" window.
2. Select AI Assist > AI Coding for the AI Coding dialog to appear.
3. Drag and drop a document (text or PDF) from the "Document System"
into the respective field in the AI Coding dialog.

•A document's context menu:
1. Right-click on a document (text or PDF) in the "Document System"
window.
2. Select AI Assist > AI Coding for the AI Coding dialog to appear
3. Drag and drop a code from the "Code System" into the respective fieldin the AI Coding dialog

Provide a clear code definition in the code memo
You can also find a code memo field in the AI Coding dialog (once you add a code).
Code memos are crucial to outline a code's intent, define it, and explain when it
should be applied.
This is particularly important in AI Coding with MAXQDA since the code memo
guides AI Assist in understanding your coding intent. Without a detailed memo, AI
Assist may misinterpret your intent, leading to less optimal results. A well-definedcode memo is key to improving AI's accuracy in identifying relevant segments.

After you click OK, AI Assist analyzes your document, identifies relevant segments
based on the code definition, and generates a new subcode that nests under theoriginal code.

AI-generated subcodes are distinguishable by their unique colors and naming
conventions, making it easy to differentiate them from manually applied ones.
Once completed, MAXQDA will automatically navigate to the first coded segment inyour document, and you can start reviewing the coding suggestions.

Coding Multiple Documents
To code multiple documents, apply the same code with the same code definition toeach document. Afterwards, merge all AI Codes into one:

You can then quality check the AI coded segments. If you like, you may move the AI
generated codes into your already existing codes.

Suggest new Codes
Using AI Assist, you can also automatically create an inspiring list of possible newcodes for a highlighted section of text. You can assess if the suggestions are usefulfor your analysis tasks, choose appropriate codes, and then MAXDQA will apply
them to the text section.

To get suggestions for new codes:
1. Select a text passage in the “Document Browser” and right-click on theselection.
2. In the context menu, select AI Assist > Suggest New Codes for Text
Selection.
3. In the dialog that appears, specify the desired language for the suggestions
and confirm with OK. The language selected for the suggestions may bedifferent from the language of the coded segments; the coded segments may
also vary in language.
4. MAXQDA will present a list of possible new codes. Select all suitable codesand confirm again with OK.

MAXQDA creates all selected codes at the top of the code system and assigns themto the selected text passage. The explanations are saved in the respective code
memos. Please note that in some cases there is no explanation; then no code memo
is created.
Typically, MAXQDA will present three separate sets of suggestions: the first twosets contain thematic codes, where the codes in the second tend to be more general.
The third set contains codes that usually express more interpretation. You’re free topick as many codes as you want from any of these groups.
You can use these created codes and their explanation, to code further documents inyour data using AI Coding.

Summarizing a CodeIn MAXQDA’s Code Memos there is a “Code Summary” area where you can write asummary for the segments that were coded with the respective code. This provides
a perfect location where you can aggregate key content captured by a code.
Using AI Assist, you can create a Code Summary for the coded segments
automatically and then edit the summary if necessary.

With AI Assist you can automatically create a Code Summary in the code memo
window. You can also create such a summary for an AI Coded code. Which will
provide you with a quick overview of the coded data.

Compare AI codes to your own codesIf you have already coded your data, you can use AI Coding to check if you havemissed out on any important segments in your data. For this, apply AI coding to an
already coded document.
You can use the document browser to revisit the document and compare your own
coded segments to the coded segments created by the AI:

You can also use MAXQDA’s powerful visual tools for a visual comparison between
AI created codes and your own. For example, the Code Line is very useful for thispurpose:

Here, the first row shows the manually created code “Health” by the researcher.
The second row shows the AI generated codes. Although there is some overlap,
there are several segments at the end of the interview that the AI flagged asimportant, but the researcher did not code it.

Recommended reading:Müller, A. & Rädiker, S. (2024). “Chatting” With Your Data: 10 Prompts for Analyzing
Interviews With MAXQDA’s AI Assist. MAXQDA Research Blog.
https://www.maxqda.com/blogpost/chatting-with-your-data-10-prompts-foranalyzing-interviews-with-maxqda-ai-assist

Rädiker, Stefan et.al (2024): AI in Research: Opportunities and Challenges. (2024,February 29). [Symposium]. MAXQDA International Conference (MQIC), Berlin,
Germany. https://www.maxqda.com/blogpost/ai-in-research-opportunities-and-challenges

Contact your trainer
Andreas W. Müller (Wien) andreas@muellermixedmethods.com

 + 43 677 637 566 88